Virbac Paprec 3 then Hugo Boss then Bastide Otio
Virbac Paprec 3 belongs to the second generation of IMOCAs designed by VPLP in collaboration with the engineers at Guillaume Verdier’s firm. Drawing on his experience sailing a monohull round the world during the Vendée Globe, Jean-Pierre Dick wanted to simplify the boat as much as possible, removing all unnecessary weight to make her lighter.
Considerable work went into designing these sixty-footers, for example VPLP drafted seventy hull shapes and then put four of them through their paces in the test tank and in a virtual circumnavigation. Beamier than her predecessors, her hull has very taut lines.
Built by Cookson Boats in New Zealand, Virbac Paprec 3 notched up a couple of double-handed victories in just a few months, winning the Barcelona World Race (with Loïck Peyron) and the Transat Jacques Vabre (with Jérémie Beyou).
After a 4th place in the 2012–13 Vendée Globe with Jean-Pierre Dick at the helm, she was sold to Alex Thomson and renamed Hugo Boss. He entered her in the 2014 Barcelona World Race, taking the lead until a dismasting put paid to his ambitions.
Sponsored by Bastide Otio, Kito de Pavant purchased her for the 2016 Vendée Globe, his third. He was forced to abandon her in the Indian Ocean after hitting an unidentified floating object.
